In the related art, as autofocus control for a focus adjustment in a digital camera or the like, for example, there are mainly phase difference AF control which is used in a digital single lens reflex camera and contrast AF control which is used in a compact camera or the like. It is a feature of those AF control that, for example, in the phase difference AF, a high-speed focus adjustment can be attained and, in the contrast AF, an exact focus adjustment can be attained.
For example, PTL 1 discloses a method of performing a contrast evaluation on the basis of a signal of a phase difference AF sensor. PTL 2 discloses a method whereby an image pickup element which can individually receive light which passes through different pupil areas is used and an image subjected to the focus adjustment by using an image pickup signal which is output from the image pickup element (that is, after the image pickup processing) is generated.